Pictures...

... are coming! I'm really sorry to all those hoping to see the babies by now. The hospital computer isn't set up to allow me to upload pictures with it. Pauline is being discharged today, so I will get several pictures up tonight when we settle in at home! (I may even be able to put up a video or two!)

For those who have dial-up, I'll keep the images about the same size as the others on this blog. For people with broad-band, e-mail me and I can send you much larger sizes you can print out.

Enough housekeeping... how are the babies doing?!?! They are amazing. They are getting closer to sleeping in an open-air crib instead of the isolet they're both in now. They've got little pajamas they wear now (used to be just a diaper and a cap). Hannah will probably start bottle feeding today or tomorrow (Scott is another day behind her on the feeding schedule).

Scott is keeping his body temperature very well. The staff want them to be able to keep a temp of 37 degrees celsius (98.6 fahrenheit) when the isolet is about 28 degrees celsius (about 82 fahrenheit). Right now Scott is doing well with an isolet temp of 30 degrees while Hannah is at about 31.4 .

More tonight!
- J

Another Wonderful Day

The twins are doing great! Scott is under phototherapy for mild Jaundice. Hannah may be able to bottle feed today or tommorow! I will try to get Jason to post pictures of the babies today.

I will be discharged from the hospital tommorow (Tuesday). They kept me an extra day because I am anemic and my body's hemoglobin levels are low. During surgery my body had a hemorrhage and I lost a lot of blood. The hospital will send me home with a prescription for iron supplements.

Other than being tired easily (and a little weak) I feel fine; I'm even wearing real clothes! Yay!

-P

The birth - part II

So Pauline gave birth to two wonderful little babies. They were taken to an ajoining room to start their lives. Nurses stimulated them to get them breathing, gave them oxygen to help them along. Scott was the first to start breathing (he did have a little head start afterall). Hannah had a little more trouble at first.

The nurses were a little concerned about Hannah because she wasn't crying. She had a pink skin color, so they knew she was getting oxygen in her bloodstream - but the stubborn little girl would not cry! The nicknamed her the "strong, but silent one".

The babies were both weighed before being brought to NICU. Scott peed as soon as they put him down on the scale (that's my boy!).

The doctors and nurses need about 30-45 minutes to get Hannah and Scott admitted and hooked up to all the monitors, so I went back to be with Pauline while they closed her up. She was taken to a labor and delivery room for about an hour of monitoring after the surgery. We called a few family members - but only siblings and parents (it was 4:00 in the morning) to let them know. We agreed to wait until morning to tell the extended family.

I was able to pop in to see the babies a few times before they released Pauline to her normal room. She made a stop at NICU to see Scott and Hannah for the first time (they had taken them so quickly from the surgery room she didn't really get a good look at them).

When she got back to her bed, Pauline slept... a lot. I escorted family to NICU during the morning to give her time to recover.

There you have it... the dry narrative of how the Super Mueller Wonder Twins came to be. We're going to be in the hospital until Monday, so there probably won't be many pictures until then. Don't worry... there are a TON of pictures - and video.

Refreshed daddy

After a nice nap, some food, and a long visit with the Super Mueller Wonder Twins, I'm ready to do my best Paul Harvey impression and tell you.... the rest of the story.

As you can see in the previous posts, Pauline was admitted late Tuesday / Early Wednesday morning to the hospital for high blood pressure. Thursday she was officially diagnosed with preeclampsia. The doctor wanted to monitor her over night, then after some lab work, make a decision about what to do Friday morning.

The babies had other plans.

Pauline had a restless night Thursday - babies wouldn't stop moving around and she was getting really nauseated around 12:30-1:00 am Friday morning. She called the nurse, after a few minutes, that nurse called another nurse. They discovered Pauline was dialated to 3 cm, so after speaking with the doctor... it was decided that those babies were coming out!

Around 1:30 am, Pauline was brought down the Labor and Delivery to be prepped. By 2:30 they wisked her into the operating room for a c-section. At exactly 3:00 am, we heard those magic words "It's a boy!" Two minutes later, we heard "And a girl".

Part II of the story will follow soon - relatives are here to see the babies!

- J

!!!!!BABIES!!!!!

We have babies! Here's the vital info...

Scott William Mueller
Born: 3:00 am on June 23rd, 2006
Weight: 4lbs, 12 oz
Length: 17" (42 cm)
He's currently in NICU, but he's doing GREAT! No ventilators, no extra oxygen... just lots of monitoring.

Hannah Marie Mueller
Born: 3:02 am on June 23rd, 2006
Weight: 4 lbs, 14 oz
Lenght: 17 3/4" (44 or 45 cm)
She's also in NICU and doing just as well!

Pauline is recovering. She's fine, just very tired. She really didn't get any sleep last night - the babies kept her up.

We'll have lots more over the next day or two - how it all happened, photos, etc.

Right now, I need a nap!

- J (One proud papa!)

More news

When it rains, it pours, huh? Just got back from that ultrasound (for those of you who haven't read the last couple of posts, you should probably do that now!). It was a lot of fun to see the babies again - we even saw hair on Hannah's head ;-). She's going to take after me for sure)!

Babies are doing great! They aren't showing any signs of being affected by the preeclampsia at this point. They're both growing at a normal rate - about 4 pounds each (maybe a little less) according to the ultrasound technician. There are no concerns at all about them.

They are both breech still. That means Pauline will have a c-section afterall. When is the big question now... tomorrow? a week from now?

- J

PS - I don't know if I said this in the last post or not, but the doctor tells us Pauline probably won't be pregnant much longer... even if she goes home tomorrow. They expect to get another week, maybe two. Let the birthday predictions begin!

Couple of options...

We just got done speaking with the doctor. It looks like Pauline does have mild Preeclampsia right now. It won't get better... only worse. The only real cure is to get those babies out! We're going to stay one more night to do more monitoring. Then tomorrow Pauline will have some lab work done. The outcome will decide what we do next.

There are three possible outcomes tomorrow.

1 - She's stabilized and we go home to wait another week or two.

2 - Things are getting worse... but it's not horrible yet. If that happens... she stays in the hospital for another week or two.

3 - Things go down hill fast and the babies are born June 23, 2006.

There is no way to tell which situation we'll find ourselves in right now. We're getting an ultrasound right now - so I'll have more to write when we get back!

- J

Deja vu all over again...

Have you ever had that feeling that you've done this before? We're back at the hospital. Tuesday Pauline's blood pressure was pretty high, so the doc decided to have her come back in to Labor and Assessment for monitoring. (They're concerned she may have preeclampsia) So... at 9pm we pack up and go in to the hosptial... again.

By 11:30 they decided her blood pressure, swelling, and other symptoms were too great to let her go back home. So we stayed overnight for more monitoring. Wednesday, they put us back up in the Women's Health Center for more monitoring.

Today (Thursday) we're still here waiting for test results and the doctor to come in and tell us if she needs to stay, or if she can go back home. We're not sure when that will happen... sometime between now and 6pm probably... *sigh*.

Pauline is in relatively good spirits about the whole thing. She's taking it one week at a time now (and we'll hit 34 weeks this Saturday!). I'll post more when I know more!

- J

Still pregnant

Still at the Muellers. Still pregnant!

Today (Saturday) marks 33 weeks! Making it to 34 would be great; 36 would be fantastic.

My body, however, is starting to give out! Aches and pains, heartburn, all that "fun" stuff. The babies like to beat me up from the inside!

It'll all be worth it when I can hold my happy healthy babies!

-P

We're home... kinda

Pauline was discharged from the hospital yesterday evening. We went home for a little bit so she could spend some time with her kitties. We'll be staying with my parents for the time being so we're closer to the hospital. If she went into labor between 6-9 am at our house... traffic could cause some MAJOR delays in getting her to the hospital, so we think this is the safer route for now.

- J

Back home?!?

Sorry for the lack of postings over the last couple of days. Things have been a little crazy. We've moved to a bigger room - now we don't have to move furniture for me to go to sleep at night! We also got some big news --- Pauline could be sent home tomorrow afternoon.

She's been put on a special device that gives her a constant, small dose of the anti-contraction drugs. It's the size of a large pager, so she can wear it on a belt or pants or whatever. They hooked her up to it this morning and if everything goes well, she'll go home after tomorrow's baby shower!

That's good and bad. It will be nice to be home again. Pauline is excited about seeing her kitties again. It will also mean we're 35 minutes from the hospital again. What can ya do?

- J

Enough already...

Another false alarm last night. Pauline was having contractions about 5-6 minutes apart. She took some muscle relaxers which had done the trick to slow things down in the past - it didn't work last night. They gave her a shot of stronger medicine and that reeeeeaaaaallllllly slowed things down - to about 2 an hour. She was back to 6 an hour this morning. We'll see how things go tonight.

Those babies are just trying so hard to come out - don't they know they're not ready yet?!?

;-)

- J

Week # 31

Another milestone... although this one was a smaller one. We're officially at 31 weeks today. The doctors *really* want to get Pauline to at least 32 weeks. Things are a lot smoother if we can do that.

Today was pretty quiet. Pauline spent a good portion of the day napping, I went to help my folks get the house ready for visitors. Pauline's first baby shower is next weekend - so we'll have lots of guests!

On the baby front - they're doing fine. Scott is a little trouble maker at monitoring time. There isn't a lot of room in there - but he does his best to give the nurses a hard time. They usually spend about 5 minutes just finding his heartbeat. Half the time he's moving so much they can't track it for very long.

Pauline is still having about 5-6 contractions an hour. That means she's had more than 1,500 since we got here! They are starting to get a little more intense, but the doctors don't worry unless you have the intensity and frequency.

That's all for now folks! Enjoy your weekend.

- J